Debbie Laskey's Blog: SPRING LEADERSHIP SERIES 2025

Last year, I launched a Spring Leadership Series to think about leadership in nontraditional ways. As 2024 continued, I presented additional ways to think about leadership during my Olympics Leadership Series and Holiday Leadership Series. With a new year upon us, I've invited 25 thought leaders to share their responses to five questions relating to team-building, reading, and leadership. My #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 began the first day of Spring and continues through June 20th, the first day of Summer.

Before we begin, I'd like to applaud two special individuals for providing the inspiration for this series. First, big applause goes to Erika Andersen, a leadership expert and author who I've had the pleasure of knowing for nearly 15 years, and she's appeared on my blog 13 times since 2011. She wrote an article for Forbes entitled, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders," and that article serves as the core of the series as its first question. Second, I also applaud Joseph Lalonde, a leadership expert and author of a book called REEL LEADERSHIP, for planting the seeds for last year's Spring Leadership Series on my blog. After I read Joe's book, I started looking at movies as well as works of fiction, TV shows, and TV characters with "leadership-tinted glasses."

For today's post, I'd like to introduce Michelle Redfern, a globally-recognized gender equality, diversity, and inclusion strategist based in Australia. She advises organizations in the business and sporting sectors on DEI strategy development and implementation and works directly with women leaders to advance their careers. She has been recognized as one of Australia's Top 100 Women of Influence and has won awards for her contributions to women's advancement. She is passionate about what sets her soul on fire, closing the global leadership gender gap, and enabling women to have a career that soars!

QUESTION: Leadership expert and author Erika Andersen wrote an article for Forbes entitled, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders." In the article, Erika compared gardening to management and leadership. What are your thoughts, or was there something that stood out from the article?

MICHELLE REDFERN: I appreciate the approach Erika has taken in her article. I'd add one more step in the spirit of Spring and Spring Cleaning: one's own leadership. Stop. Breathe. Reflect. What plants (skills and attributes) are still thriving and serving me well? What plants have previously served me well, but no longer serve the garden and need to be removed? What plants do I need to plant now to serve the vision for the future garden?

The most successful leaders schedule time for reflective practice. They know that people who regularly make time to stop, breathe, and think are 23 percent more likely to be high-performing leaders.

SHARE THIS: The most successful leaders schedule time for reflective practice. ~Michelle Redfern #SpringLeadershipSeries2025 #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: What was the most recent example of inspiring leadership that made an impact on you?

MICHELLE REDFERN: I follow a woman on SubStack called Dina Honour. Dina has taken a leadership role in publishing the stories of women throughout history during Women's History (HERstory!) month because historians have so often erased women and their accomplishments.

QUESTION: What is your favorite team-building activity, and why?

MICHELLE REDFERN: Anything to do with the Clifton Strengths, and preferably with my friend and colleague Charlotte Blair facilitating. Charlotte is one of the world's leading Strengths Experts and has helped me to create diverse teams who deeply understand each other's strengths, which is one of the recipes for a high-performing team and organisation.

QUESTION: Which book is on the top of your to-be-read pile, and why?

MICHELLE REDFERN: I am currently reading "Rage Becomes Her" by Soraya Chemaly about women's anger. My vocation as a gender equity and DEI advisor and lifelong feminist means I have a LOT of rage at the injustice women face. So this book is deepening my understanding of my own rage. After all, self-awareness is the first pillar of high EQ leaders.

QUESTION: In the past year, has a TV show, film, or work of fiction stood out as a result of its emphasis on leadership?

MICHELLE REDFERN: I thoroughly enjoyed "The Diplomat" seasons 1 and 2 about a reluctant leader. Keri Russell is appointed as the US Ambassador to the UK, and her depiction of leadership, which surpasses the typical bombastic, charismatic, and over-confident men we see in these positions, is wonderful. As is her approach to the many tricky situations she finds herself in and how she uses her skills in diplomacy, her most excellent knowledge of current affairs and world-shaping events to diffuse potentially explosive situations.

My gratitude to Michelle for sharing her leadership insights and for being a part of my #SpringLeadershipSeries2025. Did these questions open your eyes to think about leadership in nontraditional ways? That was the hope!

Image Credit: Google via LinkedIn.

Read Erika Andersen's article, "How Springtime Can Make Us Better Leaders"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2015/05/14/how-springtime-can-make-us-better-leaders/

Read Michelle's previous appearances here on my blog:

HOLIDAY LEADERSHIP SERIES – Featuring Michelle Redfern (December 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/12/holiday-leadership-series-featuring_0683341104.html

Leadership Lessons from #PostElectionSeries Featuring Michelle Redfern (December 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/12/leadership-lessons-from.html

All Women Need a Leadership Compass! (May 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/05/all-women-need-leadership-compass.html

FALL BACK TO READING SERIES – Featuring Michelle Redfern (November 2023)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/11/fall-back-to-reading-series-featuring_01085647309.html